Homer'sWorld

My grandfather, Harold Philip Feiger, was born on 9 September 1904. He would be 122 years old today. These are my memories of him.

The year I was five I did not go to kindergarten. I think my mother thought I was too small and maybe she wanted to have me around. She would later say it was the funnest year. Anyways, one day Grandpa and I went to the Hostess Day Old store and bought an entire bag of raspberry twinkies, which were then placed in the huge chest freezer in the basement. Everyday I would run next door, past the grape vines and the purple martin house, and go to Grandpa and Grandma's house. I was sent downstairs to get a package of Twinkies and Grandpa would eat one and I would eat one. He had given me and my brother leather wallet kits for Christmas and I would watch Grandpa as he assembled them.

One time he took me fishing at their cabin on Lake Ann. I do not remember if any fish were caught. I well remember seeing my grandpa chop the head off a chicken and the hen run away headless. I screamed. I also screamed when I went over to their house and in the kitchen sink was a bunch of frog legs, minus the rest of their bodies. They were wiggling.

Grandpa had a bee hive and I helped spin the honey off of the combs in a metal spinning device in his basement. He also made homemade wine, which was illegal in Michigan at that time. I watched as Grandma sucked on the hose to siphon the wine out of the glass jar into bottles. I still have a bottle from the last year he made wine (1971).

Grandpa was a Renaissance man and could do anything. He got a moose hide from somewhere and I would watch as he pulled it out of a soaking barrel and removed the hair and tissue. He tanned the hide, cut into strips, and wove in on the frames to made snowshoes, bending wood to make the frame, bolting the end with a copper bolt and rivet. He also made a little pony wagon for Babe.

When I was five my older brother Lee taught me to play with matches and I did so inside my sister's playhouse. A match fell on an old fabric-covered piano stool and it burst into the flames. The fire spread instantly and the whole interior was burning. I ran inside the house and told my mother that robbers had set the playhouse on fire. She put it out with a garden hose and then sent me next door for a spanking, which Grandpa forgot to do.

Grandpa and Grandma had two dogs. Daisy was a black and white collie who lived in the house. Dee-dee was a beagle who lived in a doghouse down by the black walnut trees. Apparently I named her because I could not pronounce Daisy and thought both dogs should have the same name.

Grandpa and Uncle Ray made a toy barn for me and my brother, we probably got that in either 1970 or 1971. My brother still has it.

Mrs Overman gave my brother some rabbits and we were told we had to separate the males from the females to prevent babies. We asked Grandpa and he told us that male rabbits had longer ears. So we put the long-eared rabbit in a separate cage and in a few weeks little baby bunnies appeared.

Grandpa had a large teepee that he put up near the upper garden. We used to look playing in it.

Grandpa was a chain smoker. He tried to quit, but couldn't. He had meat at every meal, that was what Grandma learned was healthy when she went to high school in the late 1920s. In April 1972 he had a heart attack and an ambulance came and took him away. He had already had a heart attack but didn't tell anyone, he was apparently afraid of doctors. He was at the hospital for a few days and one night as we were eating hotdogs Uncle Fred came to the door and said to my mother, "Carolyn, he's gone." I can still hear that. My brother Lee and I were not allowed to go to the funeral. We went next door where Aunt Judy was, and cleaned Grandma's house. 

My brother Lee, Grandpa, and me (Homer), circa 1965 or 1966.

I have often wondered what would have happened if he had lived longer, would all of the horrible things that happened been prevented?

Harold Philip Feiger, 1904-1972.